news archive

Thrilled Rich Barrett chose "Neela to the Infinite Power" from Ivar, Timewalker #4, one of my very own personal favorites of my own stories, as one of "The 13 Most Interesting Time Travel Stories in Comics". What a list!

Very cool to see a character co-created by Greg Pak and I in Incredible Hercules -- Helen Cho -- make her appearance in the blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron. Marvel.com interviews me and a bunch of great comics creators about the experience of seeing our creations up on screen.

Very cool King Kirby gets a shout-out in the Times' Best of 2014 in Theater roundup: "Not only was Crystal Skillman and Fred Van Lente’s KING KIRBY a supple, knowing account of the life of the influential comic artist Jack Kirby, but it was also a fine showcase for Steven Rattazzi, poignant in the leading role." Thanks to Andy Webster for the kind words.

Very happy and humbled that Archer & Armstrong picked up three nominations this year: Special Award for Humor in Comics, Most Promising New Talent in artist Pere Perez, and, what I'm most proud of, Best Continuing or Limited Series.

Great news out of Hollywood that the Sean Daniel Company (The Best Man Holiday, the upcoming Ben Hur and The Mummy) is teaming with Valiant Comics to bring Clayton Henry's and my version of Archer & Armstrong to the screen. io9 explains why it could be "the next great comic book movie."

Andy Webster gave a great review to my wife Crystal Skillman's and my play King Kirby, which appeared at the 2014 Comic Book Theater Festival from June 20-29. Within thirty-six hours of the review running in the newspaper, the entire run sold out! We couldn't have done this without the great backers who pledged funds to us through our Kickstarter -- you can watch our video below.

Nothing warms my heart more than to see my name paired with the words "Hobo Treasure". So you can see why Brian Truitt's article about the Archer & Armstrong & Quantum & Woody crossover The Delinquents co-written by James Asmus & me warms the proverbial cockles of my heart.

One of the best podcasts I've ever done, Ben Blacker takes me through the beginning of my career with Cowboys & Aliens and moves through Magnus, Action Philosophers, Incredible Hercules and more. Give it a listen!

This Ask Me Anything was even better than the last one -- check out all the great questions, from how to break in, my favorite works, my favorite current comics, and discussions of Brain Boy, Archer & Armstrong, Taskmaster and more.

Too cool: Amy Ratcliffe has an exclusive preview of the American Sign Language (ASL)-inspired font lettering maestro Nate Piekos came up with for our 2014 Free Comic Book Day offering, Project Black Sky.

As part of CBR's "Year of the Horse" coverage, I'm talking about all my many new titles for Dark Horse Comics, including Project Black Sky, Conan the Avenger, Brain Boy II and new editions of classics like Action Philosophers and The Silencers.

Very happy to be working with Dynamite Comics and Dreamworks Pictures to revive the classic science fiction comic MAGNUS: ROBOT FIGHTER 4000AD with soon-to-be-superstar artist Cory Smith. Check out the amazing Gabriel Hardman cover to #1 above.

10.10.13 YouTube

OK, I may be just a tad biased, but this fan-made Archer & Armstrong trailer could be possibly be the greatest thing I've ever seen:

I thought this was super cool: Dave Chalker adapted Francis Portela's and my book MODOK's 11 into an adventure/module (or as they call it, an "event") for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying. Check it out, it's tons of fun.

Very proud to be raising donations for a great charity like CBLDF with a special GI Joe #5 variant cover from retailer supporter Heroes & Fantasies -- and a special signing with me in San Antonio to celebrate.

I had a great time talking GI Joe and Archer & Armstrong with Matt Kolowski in-studio at the Comixology offices -- and both those series, in fact, along with many others, are available digitally on their app.

As part of their Robot Roulette series, I get six randomly generated questions and the answers range the gamut from growing up in the same town as Bill Watterson, getting fired a lot, time travel, my morning routine to how I use music to help me work: Enjoy.

Valerie Gallaher talks to me about the new storyarc debuting in this week's Archer & Armstrong #5: "The Wrath of the Eternal Warrior," featuring a new faction of the Sect, a new threat in the form of Armstrong's fellow immortal brother Gilad, and the truth behind global warming: It's not a hoax! It's a conspiracy!

Had great fun participating in Reddit's weekly comic Ask Me Anything (AMA). Full transcript is at the link above. They persuaded me to post one of my scripts -- for the one-shot MARVEL ZOMBIES HALLOWEEN. Hope y'all find it enlightening.

A great LIVE! podcast from the packed theater of Comic Book Club, in which Valiant Executive Editor Warren Simons and I talk about the whole line, including the return of Eternal Warrior to the pages of my title, Archer & Armstrong. Features an absolutely awesome live performance by Pearl and the Beard -- give it a listen!

Matt Moore of the Associated Press talked to artist Clayton Henry and I about the One Percent, the devil-worshipping Wall Street cult that will be the bad guys in the first arc of our ARCHER & ARMSTRONG revival.

I am thrilled to announce I'm joining the Valiant Comics relaunch by reviving one of the most beloved buddy books of all time, Archer & Armstrong. Check out as well a great interview I did at CBR about the project, with great designs from David Aja and series artist (and my Incredible Hercules compadre) Clayton Henry.

Another magical time was had at the sixth (I can hardly believe it) Fred Van Lente Day at Comic Book Resources/CSBG. The highlights were a fantastic chat about comics history and piracy where artist Steve Lieber came by to talk about the ramifications of the (in)famous Underground/4Chan incident. We were also happy to announce that Comic Book Comics by Ryan Dunlavey and myself will be collected and published by the fine folks at IDW as The Comic Book History of Comics in May 2012. Also: Feast your eyes on the first five pages of Renaissance, the graphic novel I'm creating with obscenely talented artist Sarah Oleksyk.

My frequent collaborator Greg Pak and I kick off this semester of CBLDF's Comics College with an afternoon seminar on the Secrets of Self-Publishing. Come on out, learn something, have a good time, and contribute to a worthy cause.

I'm very proud to announce my Exclusive contract with Marvel Comics. For the full details, plus the fate of self-published works like ACTION PHILOSOPHERS and COMIC BOOK COMICS (short answer: business-as-usual), click on the above.

Continuing this summer's Big Announcements: Get ready this November for the massive HERCULES crossover, Assault on New Olympus! Welcome Spidey, Agents of Atlas, Ares, Mighty Avengers, New Avengers and more to the party!

The music industry covers the Eminem vs. Punisher comic I did with Salvador Larroca. The first half appears in this month's XXL Magazine and the story concludes at Marvel Digital Comics. (You can read the first half on-line -- for free! -- there too.)

It's the FOURTH -- count 'em! Fourth! -- Fred Van Lente Day at the CSBG blog, and this year the holiday was celebrated with a live chat with me and the readers. Check out the transcript here! Also, CSBG added a special tag for its FVLD stories, so you can browse the whole archive here.

Pete from the great comics vidcast The Stack interviews me at the San Diego Comic Con! Here's Part One and here's Part Two! (And yes, I know the wonderful artist of Marvel Zombies 3 is actually Kev Walker. I was tired. Sorry, dude.)

Jeff Parker and I had so much fun the last time we're back to trade wisecracks and hype about (his) X-Men First Class and (my) Wolverine First Class ... and respond to creator Robert Kirkman's vidcast manifesto, at least it relates to Marvel's All-Ages output...

Robert Downey, Jr. is in negotiations to saddle up, strap on his ray-guns, and star in the big-screen adaptation of Cowboys & Aliens! Yee-haw!

05.31.2008 The Zombies That Ate Philadelphia

Joe Quesada, Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics, announced I'll be writing Marvel Zombies 3 at his "Cup o' Joe" panel at Wizard World Philadelphia, and check out the blizzard of press that ensued: Interviews at Newsarama, CBR, and IGN!

04.20.2008 New York Comic Con

One of the highlights of this year's NYCC was when Greg Pak and I got to meet that other great Hercules writer, Bob Layton. We both thrilled to his Prince of Power mini-series as a kid, were delighted when he was able to draw a sequence in the upcoming Hulk vs. Hercules, and I think fans of his Herc are about to be very happy, very soon...

A five-part look at Incredible Hercules! In Part One, Greg Pak and I discuss Herc's past, and what that might mean for his present. Part Two smashes its way through April's Hulk vs. Herc one shot. Part Three introduces you to our awesome new artist, Rafa Sandoval. Part Four has me and Greg jawin' about Herc's future, which -- in Part Five, is the lowdown on Herc's God Squad and their enemies the Skrull Gods, who throw down in the upcoming Secret Invasion tie-in arc!

At the 4th Annual @$$ie Awards, I was named the "AICN Comic Book Writer to Watch"! Thanks, guys! And the fact it was an awards show co-starring a potty-mouthed monkey and Mephisto made the honor that much sweeter. My mother was so impressed!

The international comic book industry lost one of the good guys this month, when the brilliant colorist of Incredible Hercules and many other fine books, Stephane Peru, passed away at the untimely age of 26. My co-writer, Greg Pak, got together the whole Herc team for a tribute to him and his wonderful work on this series.

It's that special time of year again at CSBG: Their third annual Fred Van Lente Day! Not only was the Internet visited by three ghosts -- FVL Past, FVL Present, and FVL Future -- but I received the best FVL Day present of all, being named one of the 365 Reasons to Love Comics. Thanks, guys! It was a real honor.

Many thanks to the staffs of Jim Hanley's Universe and Rocketship, who made such successes of my signings at their stores for Free Comic Book Day to celebrate the release of FCBD's free Marvel Adventures Three-in-One (one-in-three of which was written by moi). Click on the link above to see photos from the Rocketship event!

Besides having the greatest comics news site name ever, they also have Caleb Mozzocco interviewing me about the latest issue (and readers poll) of ACTION PHILOSOPHERS, as well as giving you the early dope on new projects coming from the Van Lente/Dunlavey brain trust.

12.13.2005 The Land of Frost

At last the truth can be revealed! Alex Ness recommends THE SILENCERS: BLACK KISS to cyberspace for Christmas, and in the process of interviewing me, Steve Ellis, and Moonstone's Joe Gentile about the matter, the story of what really happened with Silencers at Image finally comes out!

12.06.2005 Comics Should Be Good

Normally I don't post links to reviews here, but this blog declared December 6, 2005 to be Fred Van Lente Day, complete with reviews of SILENCERS and ACTION PHILOSOPHERS, as well as Fred Van Lente Day presents and Fred Van Lente Day carols, which was all really flattering. And creepy.

12.06.2005 cIndy Center

A terrific podcast interview on Action Philosophers and upcoming Marvel projects with Chris Shields. It's only ten minutes long, and you can listen to it by downloading the mp3 here.